UK accused of deploying nuclear weapons near the Falklands

In an increasingly tense war of words, Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector
Timberman claims the UK is deploying nuclear weapons near the Falkland
Islands.

11:46AM GMT 11 Feb 2012

Britain and Argentina went to war over the disputed British-ruled Falkland Islands in 1982, and London rejects Argentine demands for sovereignty negotiations unless the roughly 3,000 islanders want talks to be held.

Mr Timerman urged the UN to intervene in the long-running dispute over the islands. He said that Buenos Aires had intelligence that the British nuclear submarine, Vanguard, had been deployed in the area.

Along with a purported picture of the Vanguard submarine, Timerman also displayed pictures of a ship and plane that he claimed were the British naval destroyer, Dauntless, and the British aircraft, Typhoon, respectively. He said that all three had been deployed near the Falkland Islands.

Mr Timerman accused Britain of using an "unjustified defence of self-determination" to maintain a military base on the Falklands, which Argentines refer to as Islas Malvinas, which according to him allowed the European power to dominate the Atlantic Ocean.

"The UK is using an unjustified defence of self-determination for two thousand five hundred inhabitants as an excuse to establish a military powerful base that is serving its strategic interests. And I say it's an unjustified defence because the United Nations from 1965 has said that the conflict is a sovereignty conflict between the UK and Republic of Argentina," he told reporters.